The ten largest rivers in the world are the Nile River, the Amazon River, the Yangtze River, the Mississippi River, the Yellow River, the Irtysh River, the Lancang River, the Congo River, the Lena River, the Heilongjiang River, and the Yellow River.

1. The Nile River

The Nile River is a river that flows through eastern and northern Africa. It is one of the three largest river systems in Africa, along with the Congo River in Central Africa and the Niger River in West Africa. The Nile River is 6,853 kilometers long and is the longest river in the world.

2. The Amazon River

The Amazon River, located in South America, is the world's largest river in terms of flow, basin, tributaries, and second longest. The Amazon River has a flow rate of 219,000 cubic meters per second, which is several times greater than the sum of the other three major rivers, the Nile, the Yangtze River, and the Mississippi River.

It is approximately equivalent to the flow rate of seven Yangtze Rivers, accounting for 20% of the flow rate of the world's rivers; the basin area is 6,915,000 square kilometers, accounting for 40% of the area of ​​South America; the number of tributaries exceeds 15,000.

3. Yangtze River

The Yangtze River, called Jiangshui, Dajiang, or Jiang in ancient China, is the longest river in Asia and the third longest river in the world. It is also the longest river in the world that is completely within one country. It is 6,380 kilometers long. The main stream originates from the Geladandong Peak of the Tanggula Mountains in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, passes through southwest, central, and eastern China, and flows into the East China Sea in Shanghai.

The Yangtze River Basin covers one-fifth of the land area of ​​mainland China and feeds one-third of the population of mainland China. The Yangtze River Economic Belt is also China's largest economic belt.

4. Mississippi River

The Mississippi River, located in the south-central part of North America, is the largest river system in North America, with a drainage area of ​​about 3 million square kilometers. It is also the longest river in North America. Its source is Lake Itasca, 446 meters above sea level in northwestern Minnesota, USA. It flows through the central Great Plains and flows southward into the Gulf of Mexico.

Red Rock Lake, the source of the longest tributary of the Missouri River, is 3,767 kilometers long. If calculated according to the source of the Missouri River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, the total length is 6,021 kilometers, ranking fourth among the world's rivers. Its catchment area can be used as the boundary of the Midwest of the United States.

5. Irtysh River

The Irtysh River, formerly known as the Yihe River and the Yershi River, originates in the southeastern part of the Altai Mountains and is the only river in China that flows into the Arctic Ocean. The Irtysh River is 4,248 kilometers long and has a drainage area of ​​1.643 million square kilometers. It is 593 kilometers long in China. After leaving the country, it flows into Lake Zaisan in Kazakhstan, continues to flow north into Russia, and finally merges into the Ob River near the city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

6. Lancang River

The Lancang River is the name of the upper reaches of the Mekong River in China. Its upper reaches are Zaqu, which originates in the north of Zaqing Township, Zaduo County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, flows through Qinghai, Tibet and Yunnan, and is called the Mekong River after it leaves the country in Mengla County and becomes the boundary river between Laos and Myanmar.

The drainage area is 164,800 square kilometers, the length is 2,139 kilometers, and the average annual outflow of water is 76.5 billion cubic meters. The hydropower of the Lancang River has been fully developed. In addition to the Guoduo Hydropower Station on Zaqu, there are 21 hydropower stations planned below Qamdo, including 6 in Tibet and 15 in Yunnan.

7. Congo River

The Congo River is the deepest river in the world (average depth of 200 meters), and it is also the longest river in central and western Africa. It is 4,640 kilometers long (with the Chambishi River as its source), ranking second in Africa, second only to the Nile River, and the ninth longest river in the world. The Congo River basin covers an area of ​​4.01 million square kilometers. If calculated by flow, the Congo River is the second largest river in the world after the Amazon River.

8. Lena River

The Lena River, formerly known as the Lena River, is one of the three major Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean (the other two are the Ob River and the Yenisei River). With a total length of 4,400 kilometers, it is the 11th longest river in the world. The basin area is about 2.49 million square kilometers, ranking ninth in the world, all of which are located in Russia.

9. Heilongjiang River

The Heilongjiang River is one of the four major rivers in China and one of the ten major rivers in the world. From the founding of the Qing Dynasty to the mid-19th century, the Heilongjiang River was completely an inland river in China. It became the Sino-Russian boundary river only after the Tsarist Russia forcibly occupied large tracts of territory north of the Heilongjiang River and east of the Ussuri River in the mid-to-late 19th century. Later, Mongolia became independent and it flowed through three countries.

10. Yellow River

The Yellow River, called Heshui, Dahe, or He in ancient China, is the second longest river in China, second only to the Yangtze River, and the sixth longest river in the world.

One of China's two mother rivers, it originates from the Gadasuqi Laofeng in the Bayankala Mountains in Qinghai Province, China, flows through nine provinces and regions including Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong, and finally flows into the Bohai Sea in Kenli District, Dongying City, Shandong Province. The main stream is 5,464 kilometers long and the total basin area is 795,000 square kilometers